Is Rey The Chosen One?

October 19th, 2017

Ah, the Chosen One. Foreshadowed in the Star Wars original trilogy, the prophecy of the "chosen one" who would bring balance to the Force played a large role in the general confusion that was the prequel trilogy. This messianic figure is incredibly important in the Star Wars mythos, and yet the movies didn't fully explain who the Chosen One really is. Initially assumed to be Anakin Skywalker, later iterations of the franchise identified Luke as the prophesied savior. Yet, ever since The Force Awakens was released, rumors have swirled that this new trilogy is the true story of the Chosen One — and the second trailer may have just confirmed this theory for good.

Is Rey The Chosen One?

Aggravatingly, the full Chosen One prophecy has never been revealed, so we can't pick through the exact wording for clues. But the gist of it is: One day an incredibly powerful Force user will rise, and finally bring balance to the galaxy. This is vague enough so that the prophecy could refer to either Luke or Anakin, but there's a key facet of the prophecy that has not yet been fulfilled — as the galaxy, and the Force, is not in balance. Ergo, neither Anakin nor Luke were the Chosen One, as neither of them brought balance in a lasting way.

Enter Rey — and Kylo Ren. The second trailer for The Last Jedi sets up the movie as an in-depth exploration of the Force, and establishes that things won't go necessarily as we expect.

At the very start of the trailer, Snoke narrates, presumably telling Kylo Ren that he has a "raw untamed power" unlike any the Supreme Leader has seen before. Later on, Luke says the same thing about Rey, and Rey herself talks about how she always felt the Force guiding her, even before she knew what it was. Clearly, both Rey and Kylo Ren are stronger in the Force than anyone we've ever known, probably even stronger than Luke himself, given how he reacts to this strength. That certainly lines up with the prophecy of the Chosen One.

This idea gets even more intriguing when we factor in the idea of balance. In the first trailer, Luke expressed his disillusionment with the Jedi, saying that he believes the Order should end for good. It seems highly likely that Luke believes this because his training of new Jedi students only lead to tragedy, with Ben Solo defecting to join the dark side. In Luke's mind, perpetuating the Jedi only invites dark siders to rise up against it, and there can be no true balance as both sides duke it out.

With the idea of balance being a central theme of the sequel trilogy, now would be the perfect time for the Chosen One to finally rise up, bringing balance once and for all. But what if the prophecy was wrong, and there wasn't just a chosen one... but a chosen two?

Both Rey And Kylo Ren Are The Chosen One

In describing both Rey and Kylo Ren as having "raw power" in the Force, the new trailer clearly establishes them as having a connection. Luke also explains that he's afraid of Rey's power because he wasn't afraid when he sensed this power before — cue a flashback to Ren's massacre of Luke's Jedi students, which we will finally see in The Last Jedi.

Rey explains how she always felt the Force. [Credit: Lucasfilm]

The message here is clear: Kylo Ren had a power greater than Luke ever sensed before, and Rey has that power too. That wouldn't be enough to prove the Chosen One theory — were it not for the fact that Mark Hamill already said that Luke thought he had finally found the Chosen One in Ben Solo:

[Luke] made a huge mistake in thinking that his nephew was the chosen one, so he invested everything he had in Kylo, much like Obi-Wan did with my character. And he is betrayed, with tragic consequences.

It could be that Luke was wrong — that Kylo Ren wasn't the Chosen One, but as Rey is equally powerful, she is instead. Of course, it could be that Kylo Ren is the Chosen One and his redemption will lead to balance. But there's a much more interesting way that this could play out, if both Kylo and Rey are the figure spoken about in the prophecy.

A few months after The Last Jedi entered production, an apparent leak made the rounds, detailing an important plot point from the movie. According to an alleged source within the production, The Last Jedi will reveal the true origins of the Force, as Luke tells Rey about the very first Force users — a young boy and a young girl who came across a Force-channelling tree. The boy turned to evil, while the girl used the Force for good, becoming the very first Jedi. Luke then tells Rey that she is the reincarnation of this girl, and also the Chosen One.

This isn't as far-fetched as you might assume. A Force-sensitive tree already appeared in a Star Wars comic, which stood at the centre of the Jedi Temple for generations. The rumor stated that Rey and Luke would have this crucial conversation at the foot of the tree, which Luke took to Ahch-To — and we even glimpsed this tree in the trailer.

The Force tree in the trailer. [Credit: Lucasfilm]

This rumor ties in neatly to the Chosen One theory that the trailer seems to confirm, but it adds the fascinating idea of reincarnation — and implies that Kylo Ren is the boy reincarnated.

Obviously, if this theory is true, then this has huge implications for The Last Jedi. If we take this line of thinking through to its natural conclusion, Kylo Ren could defect from the dark side and Rey will not become a Jedi, but together the chosen two will bring balance to the Force by meeting somewhere in the middle. That's another theory for another day, but suffice it to say — the trailer has certainly established the idea of balance and destiny as central to the sequel trilogy, and we might finally see this oft-mentioned prophecy play out on the big screen.